The actress indulges in the joy of independence

In 1994, before Jennifer Aniston was cast in Friends, she was a regular on a mildly amusing sitcom called Muddling Through. When Friends came along, she wasn't guaranteed the part of Rachel; in fact, she was in "second position," which meant that when the cast shot the famed promotional pictures cavorting — as friends do — in a fountain, she had to sit out half of them in case the other show was renewed. "I don't think anybody thought Friends would become what it did," she remembers. "It's all good, though. It's nothing but blessings." She starts to laugh. "But seriously, who actually dances in a fountain?"

Suffice it to say, Jennifer has muddled through rather well. She, of course, spent a decade on Friends, arguably the most popular sitcom of all time, which, in its final two seasons, earned her $1 million an episode. She married Brad Pitt in 2000; started a production company, Plan B, with him; starred in four films (Rock Star, The Good Girl, Bruce Almighty, Along Came Polly); divorced Pitt in 2005; and starred in four more films (Derailed, Rumor Has It..., The Break-Up, and Friends With Money). Then she took a deep breath. Last fall, she codirected a short film, Room 10, starring Robin Wright Penn and Kris Kristofferson. And if you drive down Sunset Boulevard, you will be greeted by a smiling — and presumably well-hydrated — Jennifer on billboards for Smartwater.

So after all of that ("Thirteen years. Wow, it feels like a second ago"), how would she like this story to begin? "Huh..." Jennifer ponders, a vision of toned limbs and tawny skin — and, yes, very good hair — in jeans, a lacy white Foley camisole, and "architecturally perfect" Azzedine Alaïa wedges, throwing her legs over a couch in a suite at L.A.'s Beverly Hills Hotel. She grins. "I'm ba-ack!"

To say that Jennifer Aniston is in a breezy frame of mind these days is an understatement. After taking a self-imposed break, she is ready to get back to work. And there's a lot of it. She is currently filming a small role in He's Just Not That Into You, an ensemble comedy also starring Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, and Ben Affleck, adapted from the instaclassic dating book. "My character is in a relationship with someone who doesn't believe in marriage. It just doesn't make any sense to me!" This will be followed by Management, a romantic comedy with Steve Zahn, and Traveling, with Aaron Eckhart as her cinematic suitor. Then, if Jennifer has her druthers, it's on to her long-gestating "labor of love," Goree Girls, which tells the story of "one of the first female country-western bands that started in prison." An all-Jennifer-singing, all-Jennifer-dancing jailbird spectacular? "Yep. I can carry a tune, and I was known to throw out a jazz hand from time to time in high school. I'm not that coordinated, unfortunately, hence the comic relief that I turned into! But I've always, at least, entertained someone."

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

With all of these projects, Jennifer is playing to her strengths: a wryly funny, better-looking-than-most everygirl. After all, some of her best reviews have been for her performances as the dour checkout chick in The Good Girl and the broke, pot-smoking maid in Friends With Money. "I like those roles," she explains, crossing her Alaïa'd feet and sipping a Smartwater. "I feel comfortable with them. They're more real. People can say, Oh, I have relatives like that, I dated a guy like that, or I have a friend like that. They are relatable." And Jennifer knows that her innate — against the 13-years-in-Hollywood odds — relatability is her ticket. "You can bad-choice your way out of the business," she says with a chuckle. "I've had a couple of doozies, so I'm lucky I'm still invited back at all."

That said, she bluntly rejects critiques of her box-office performance. "I've read things that said I wasn't successful at the box office or that my big hit was The Break-Up. But I said, 'Wait a minute. There was Along Came Polly, which did really well, and Bruce Almighty was a pretty big movie.' But they'll single out Derailed or Rumor Has It..., movies that didn't do well, in order to support their agenda." In fact, according to the recent Forbes Ultimate Star Payback survey, Jennifer — who earns $8 million per film — is Hollywood's most profitable actress, returning $17 for every dollar she is paid.

At any rate, the everygirl has become a pretty tough nut. "I used to care a hell of a lot more about what people said or thought," she says of the time after her split from Pitt. "But that had to change when my life was under a microscope being scrutinized and my personal life was being talked about. You have to go, 'This is not acceptable in any way,' whether it's about me personally or in business, success versus failure. It's so negative. It's such bizarre negativity."

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

During her break — one that was unfortunately not shared by the microscopes and paparazzi lenses — Jennifer started to ask herself some questions. "What do I want to do in this life? You start with baby steps, sort of block by block," she says. Square one, after all, is not a bad place to be. "Square one is great! It's like, Hold on, wait a minute, let's refocus," she continues. Refocusing includes getting more involved in producing and exploring directing as well. "It feels so good to not just act, you know? To develop and to generate things and to go outside your comfort zone."

Jennifer is looking forward to the attention on herself (and other actresses) returning to her work, and she laments the often destructive media focus on the misbehavior of many young stars. Any advice for those who come to fame so young? "Continue doing your work. Always keep work first. Hype is second, and don't let that become part of your reality. Just stay real and do your job. Everything is just so dramatic," she says, sagelike, "but you have to remember that we're the luckiest people in the world to do what we get to do and get paid for it."

Most Popular

And when you're an actress, it's nice to have an alter ego. What if Jennifer could live another life? Has she ever wanted to dye her hair black? "I did once, actually, in high school." Live a day as someone else? "I would love to be Oprah — for just one day." What is she scared of? "Public speaking. Having to go onstage. I get nervous when I go to awards shows. The red carpet is torturous." If she worked for the government? "I'd be a spy. A very glamorous spy who plays poker and lives in Monaco. And has affairs with Daniel Craig." What's her poison? "Dirty martinis. I can manage about three." Guilty pleasure? "The Bachelor." Fantasy dinner-party guest? "Princess Diana. Who wouldn't?"

In her own way, of course, Jennifer is beloved by her public. "Yeah, I'm like a universal gal pal," she says with a laugh. "I get these questions: 'You're in love?' And I'm like, 'No!' 'But you're on the cover of People magazine,' and I'm like, 'I know. No, trust me. I'm not.' I have to say that, for the most part, people are extremely kind and respectful."

When she wants to retreat, though, Jennifer heads to her house in the Hollywood Hills, which she bought a year ago and is rampantly redecorating. "I'm like, A rug is that much?" she says. One can almost imagine her best friend and renowned decor aficionado Courteney Cox coming by and rearranging the furniture. "Ha. You know what? She has, in the past. She's just the queen of it. You know, she probably would have rearranged this room," Jennifer says with a giggle, gesturing to the pastel hotel suite. "My place has an Indonesian feel. I want it to be peaceful, warm, and inviting. I want to give people an experience when they come in." So then they can collapse in a Zenlike heap? "Sure, any kind of heap." Saucy laughter.

It's a new perspective, in the end, that Jennifer plans to take the most advantage of. Though she could kick back comfortably in L.A., she is pondering a move to New York. "I can actually visualize it again, for some reason," she says, sitting upright on the couch. "I don't know, I'm just tired of Los Angeles. In New York, you're not just in that same car, looking at that same dashboard, driving down the same street." She can barely get over the ecstatic thrill of "walking 40 blocks" when she was in New York the other week, with nobody noticing her. "I was wearing flip-flops, though. And I was like, Jen, not the smartest shoes to wear in New York City."

But sore shins, happy heart. "If you can get away from the paparazzi and they don't know where you are," she says, her eyes sparkling, "you can actually walk, walk, walk."